Where to post music for free?

[FEcorvus]

So I'm working on kind of a concept album and when I'm finished with it I would like to put it up for free download

I don't want to maintain or pay for a domain since I don't really have much money left after bills, what would be a good site that would host it?

 

[pastanator]

Bandcamp. Just set a minimum price of zero.

 

[FEcorvus]

Bandcamp. Just set a minimum price of zero.

ah cool thanks! I didn't know I could set it to nothing

 

[DXL]

Also Soundcloud, really do both. More reach could never hurt.

 

[noUser01]

Definitely get on Bandcamp.

 

[Promit]

This is going to sound stupidly obvious but... YouTube. Just make a video with album art for the image. Soundcloud is also great, embeds well on a lot of forums.

 

[FEcorvus]

This is going to sound stupidly obvious but... YouTube. Just make a video with album art for the image. Soundcloud is also great, embeds well on a lot of forums.

can't download from youtube without using 3rd party software, also youtube compresses .... too much

 

[Great Satan]

I always find soundcloud a little sharp, they do something to it that over digitalizes certain frequencies that makes it seem to sound unnecessarily bright and overly harsh. Maybe their sites volume levels are set a little too high by default, who knows.

I'd say go with bandcamp.

 

[Sopko]

Post to it bandcamp with a minimum price of 0 and maybe someone will throw you an extra few dollars.

 

[Promit]

can't download from youtube without using 3rd party software, also youtube compresses .... too much

The YouTube post isn't about distributing your music. It's about discoverability. There's no point to high quality downloads no one knows about. Just include a link to SoundCloud or BandCamp or whatever in the video description. People DO click them.

YouTube are using Opus nowadays dialed in at 160 kbit, which is probably similar to 192-220 kbit MP3. That's not unreasonable for streaming. Audio quality is also no longer linked to video quality - all that stuff about selecting 1080p hasn't worked for over a year now.

 

[DXL]

Audio quality is also no longer linked to video quality - all that stuff about selecting 1080p hasn't worked for over a year now.

So now setting my black metal to 144p isn't doing anything anymore?

 

[noUser01]

I always find soundcloud a little sharp, they do something to it that over digitalizes certain frequencies that makes it seem to sound unnecessarily bright and overly harsh. Maybe their sites volume levels are set a little too high by default, who knows.

I'd say go with bandcamp.

It streams in MP3 128, that's the problem. Damn low quality.

The YouTube post isn't about distributing your music. It's about discoverability. There's no point to high quality downloads no one knows about. Just include a link to SoundCloud or BandCamp or whatever in the video description. People DO click them.

YouTube are using Opus nowadays dialed in at 160 kbit, which is probably similar to 192-220 kbit MP3. That's not unreasonable for streaming. Audio quality is also no longer linked to video quality - all that stuff about selecting 1080p hasn't worked for over a year now.

Well obviously for discoverability putting it on whatever you can is great, but the OP specifically asked for where to host it for download. Exposure, marketing, and discoverability is a whole different conversation entirely.